St. Paul Parks and Recreation and the St. Paul Planning and Economic Development department have released renderings of the future Pedro Park, which will occupy 1/4th of a city block off 10th and Robert streets in downtown St. Paul. The $4 million park construction would be funded in part by the sale of the city’s adjoining public safety annex building to the Ackerberg Group of Minneapolis for $1.4 million. Capital improvement bonds would raise another $2.23 million, and $200,000 would come from the city’s existing parkland dedication fees. Ackerberg has promised to contribute $40,000 annually toward park maintenance at the site. (St. Paul Parks and Recreation)

St. Paul Parks and Recreation and the St. Paul Planning and Economic Development department have released renderings of the future Pedro Park, which will occupy 1/4th of a city block off 10th and Robert streets in downtown St. Paul. The $4 million park construction would be funded in part by the sale of the city’s adjoining public safety annex building to the Ackerberg Group of Minneapolis for $1.4 million. Capital improvement bonds would raise another $2.23 million, and $200,000 would come from the city’s existing parkland dedication fees. Ackerberg has promised to contribute $40,000 annually toward park maintenance at the site. (St. Paul Parks and Recreation)

St. Paul Parks and Recreation and the St. Paul Planning and Economic Development department have released renderings of the future Pedro Park, which will occupy 1/4th of a city block off 10th and Robert streets in downtown St. Paul. The $4 million park construction would be funded in part by the sale of the city’s adjoining public safety annex building to the Ackerberg Group of Minneapolis for $1.4 million. Capital improvement bonds would raise another $2.23 million, and $200,000 would come from the city’s existing parkland dedication fees. Ackerberg has promised to contribute $40,000 annually toward park maintenance at the site. (St. Paul Parks and Recreation)

St. Paul Parks and Recreation and the St. Paul Planning and Economic Development department have released renderings of the future Pedro Park, which will occupy 1/4th of a city block off 10th and Robert streets in downtown St. Paul. The $4 million park construction would be funded in part by the sale of the city’s adjoining public safety annex building to the Ackerberg Group of Minneapolis for $1.4 million. Capital improvement bonds would raise another $2.23 million, and $200,000 would come from the city’s existing parkland dedication fees. Ackerberg has promised to contribute $40,000 annually toward park maintenance at the site. (St. Paul Parks and Recreation)

St. Paul Parks and Recreation and the St. Paul Planning and Economic Development department have released renderings of the future Pedro Park, which will occupy 1/4th of a city block off 10th and Robert streets in downtown St. Paul. The $4 million park construction would be funded in part by the sale of the city’s adjoining public safety annex building to the Ackerberg Group of Minneapolis for $1.4 million. Capital improvement bonds would raise another $2.23 million, and $200,000 would come from the city’s existing parkland dedication fees. Ackerberg has promised to contribute $40,000 annually toward park maintenance at the site. (St. Paul Parks and Recreation)

Pedro Park remains at the center of a lawsuit against the city of St. Paul, but city officials say they’re nevertheless weeks away from securing approvals to begin construction of a new $4 million downtown park in 2019.

On Tuesday night, St. Paul Parks and Recreation officials unveiled plans and renderings for a nearly half-acre park that would be funded, in part, by the sale of a vacant city building next door to developers interested in creating modern office space.

“We need both — parks as well as jobs,” said St. Paul Planning and Economic Development Director Bruce Corrie, in an interview.

The sizable new city park off 10th and Robert streets would include a children’s play area, picnic benches, a designated dog area, shade trees and a water feature next to a future Rush Line station. The bus rapid transit route is expected to someday traverse Robert Street as it travels from downtown St. Paul to downtown White Bear Lake.

Park construction could get underway next year, provided that $1.4 million can be raised from the sale of the city’s vacant public safety annex building off 10th and Minnesota streets.

Corrie said his department expects to close on the sale of the three and-a-half-story, 50,000-square-foot building to the Ackerberg Group of Minneapolis within six months, and all of the money would flow into the nearly $4 million Pedro Park project.

“Ackerberg is confident that they’ll find tenants,” Corrie said.

The city could generate $2.23 million for the park project from the sale of public capital improvement bonds. The final $200,000 is already available from parkland dedication funds generated by existing real estate projects.

In what city officials described as a particularly unusual benefit, Ackerberg has agreed to donate $40,000 annually to Pedro Park maintenance for 20 years.

“It’s not a payment in lieu of taxes. It’s a cash contribution,” said St. Paul Parks and Rec director Mike Hahm, who called the arrangement a public-private collaboration and “an out-of-the-gate case study in how that can be successful.”

Hahm said the plans — which came together with input from a design advisory committee — will be presented to the city’s Parks Commission on Thursday, and the city’s Capital Improvement Budget Committee on Monday. Both groups will make recommendations, but the final approval will rest with the St. Paul City Council.

“I’m looking forward to putting the opportunity in front of them,” Hahm said. “The value proposition is a $2.23 million investment for a $4 million product, with construction next year.”

The seven-member council will meet as the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority on Oct. 24 and will vote on both the building sale and the park plan.

A FAMILY PROMISE, A LAWSUIT

With Lowertown’s population booming and demand for green space increasing in step, controversy over the future of Pedro Park has spanned nearly a decade — or twice that, depending upon how you count — and an ongoing legal fight.

An alley separates the park and annex building from the southern half of the block, which includes a privately-owned parking lot and the Union Gospel Mission Childcare Center.

City officials have said alley access to the annex building would remain in place for now, though they say they’ve designed the future Pedro Park to be expandable if the additional properties are put up for sale.

“The ‘expandable park’ has never been explained — nor can it be,” said Kati Berg, a plaintiff, in an email Tuesday night. “The physical reality of the lot if the annex is sold prevents future expansion. There will always be cars driving through the alley, as they plan to sell the annex with an alley easement.”

Berg, a co-chair of the Friends of Pedro Park Expansion, said the Pedro family donated the Pedro’s Luggage store to the city in 2009 with the expectation that the city would build a two-acre park, or something close to that, within five years. The building was demolished in 2011, but little more than a temporary garden has ever been planted.

Marilyn Pitera, the last remaining Pedro sibling, joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff.

“If there isn’t the political will now to expand the park with land we own, there will never be the political will,” Berg said. “I wish I was excited by a $4 million dollar investment into our neighborhood, but it is a bad deal for our neighborhood and a bad deal for St. Paul taxpayers. Short-sighted planning always comes with buyer’s remorse.”

Hahm said the arrangement with the Ackerberg Group has won initial approval from downtown business advocates, who see the value in creating new green space to complement new office space.

“It’s time to see something happen on that block,” said Joe Spencer, president of the St. Paul Downtown Alliance. “It’s the worst block in downtown, and it’s been sitting fallow for a decade. If the (city) council can come up with the money for something bigger and better this year, then great. If not, we have a fantastic option in front of us right now.”

Frederick Melo was once sued by a reader for $2 million but kept on writing. He came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings a testy East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets with manic intensity at @FrederickMelo.

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